High quality pasta products (e.g., spaghetti, marcaroni, noodles, fetucini, etc.) are generally available only in a dried uncooked state. The process of making conventional dried pasta is itself a costly process because it requires the use of expensive durum semolina wheat flour and a time consuming, critically controlled drying step. Attempts to use less expensive flours generally have resulted in lower quality pasta with less "bite" and reduced resistance to overcooking. Preparing dried and uncooked pasta for consumption requires boiling the pasta for periods from about 10 to 20 minutes. It would be advantageous, therefore, to develop a process for making a quick cooking semimoist pasta which does not require expensive durum semolina wheat flour or complicated drying procedures, but still retains the "bite" of high quality pasta. In recognition of the short comings of dried pasta products, the art has made several attempts to develop a quick cooking semimoist pasta.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,401 describes a method for producing a semimoist pasta product in which dry pasta is first parboiled and, after draining, cooked in a solution of polyhydric alcohol, salt, and an antimycotic, followed by surface drying. The quick cooking semimoist pasta made according to the teachings of this patent, is unacceptable in both flavor and surface texture. U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,989 discloses another method in which dry pasta is soaked in a salt solution over night, gelatinized, and then pasturized in a closed container. The quick cooking semimoist pasta produced according to the teachings of this patent clumps together after only a few days of storage and is gummy and sticky when cooked. In addition to being commercially unacceptable, the semimoist pasta products described in the above-discussed patents are made from conventional dried pasta. The additional process steps, therefore, result in a product which is more expensive than coventional dried pasta.
Limiting "water activity" (A.sub.w) in intermediate moisture foods has become an important method of preventing microbial decomposition. Water activity is the measure in a system of the unbound free water available to support biological and chemical reactions. One measure of water activity is A.sub.w =P/P.sub.o, where P is the vapor pressure of water in the system (food item) and P.sub.o is the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature. Lowering A.sub.w restricts the growth of bacteria and is accomplished by lowering P, the vapor pressure of water in the food item. P may be depressed by including sufficient amounts of solutes in the food item. The drop in P is in accordance with Raoult's law which states that P=x P.sub.o, where x is the mole fraction of water in the food item. Typical solutes employed in foods are sugars, salts, propylene glycol and the like.
Most bacteria of concern in food preservation require A.sub.w values of 0.90 or greater to grow. There are some halophilic bacteria that grow at A.sub.w values down to 0.75, but they seldom cause food spoilage. Molds, however, will grow at A.sub.w levels down to about 0.65 which is too low for most foods to retain an intermediate moisture content. Semimoist foods usually have A.sub.w values between 0.70 and 0.85. An antimycotic is generally included, therefore, to inhibit molds at semimoist levels. Food items employing the above principles of food preservation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,202,514, 3,655,401 and 3,914,445.